Leveraging Your Teaching Skills For A Career In Financial Advising

Embarking on any career change can often be an exciting yet daunting experience. That’s because most of us would rather keep doing the thing we know like the back of our hand than try something new.

However, you would be surprised to find that your skills as an educator actually transition quite seamlessly to the skills necessary to be a successful financial advisor.

Here at Consolidated Planning, we’ve helped countless career changers transition from a field they know and love to a career as a financial advisor with the right tools and resources to help them continue to do what they love while fulfilling their true potential.

Once you understand how your skills and experience in education can translate into a financial advising career, you can better decide if this career path is right for you.

 

What Skills Are Transferable From Education To Financial Advising?

If you’re intrigued as to how the skills you’ve developed as an educator translate to a career in financial advising, we’re glad you’re here.

Oftentimes teachers find it tough to transition away from the profession as they feel it’s a calling to help mold and develop their students. But, the good news is, there are a lot of parallels between being a teacher, and being a financial advisor.

 

#1 CONCISE COMMUNICATION

 

Communication, communication, communication. While it may seem obvious that this is a key transferable skill for most professions, it IS essential as a financial advisor.

As a teacher, you already have exceptional communication skills that are directly applicable to financial advising. Your ability to explain complex ideas in a clear and concise manner is a valuable asset when guiding clients through financial concepts. This ability to convey complex information simply is one of the unique abilities a great financial advisor should possess.

A day in the life of a financial advisor revolves around communicating intricate financial information into easily understandable terms, therefore empowering your clients to make informed decisions about their financial well-being.

Typically this looks like adequately 

Conveying an idea,

Helping people understand that idea,

And ultimately, having them take action on that idea.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The best part about your career as a teacher OR as a financial advisor, is the light-bulb moment. Yes, the part where you can see your students eyes OR your clients eyes light up when they understand how something works or why something matters.

That feeling can make even the toughest day as a financial advisor (there will be plenty) make it all worth it.

 

#2 A REPEATABLE PROCESS

 

Teaching, whether it’s to a classroom full of students or your best client, is about making connections, and making the topic at hand both engaging and relatable. When your technique of doing so works, you typically don’t recreate the wheel. These career paths focus on building a repeatable process. For yourself and your subjects.

Both teachers and financial advisors rely on repeatable processes to ensure 

Consistency,

efficiency, 

and effectiveness in their work. 

These processes help them organize their tasks, provide structure to their interactions, and enable them to deliver a high-quality experience to their students or clients.

 

#3 THE ABILITY TO LISTEN AND EMPATHIZE

 

Just like a financial advisor’s clients, teachers are skilled in creating a supportive environment by understanding the needs and concerns of their students. 

This empathetic approach is equally important in financial advising. 

That’s because consumers, first and foremost, want to work with,

Someone they like

And, someone they trust. 

This consultative approach allows you to establish trust and develop personalized strategies that align with their unique circumstances. Your empathetic nature will enable you to create strong client relationships based on understanding and respect. Therefore becoming someone they like and they trust.

So, how do you develop that relationship as a financial advisor?

Through meaningful conversations. Conversations focused on qualitative data go beyond the surface, to help you understand your clients and their financial goals, fears, and aspirations.

 

Is A Career In Financial Advising Right For Your Skill Set?

Concise communicator, check.

Repeatable processes in place, check.

Active listener and empathizer, check.

Leaving your role as a teacher is not an easy decision but becoming a financial advisor at the best firm for you, can be centered around the same work – helping people. While that work might be on a smaller scale, it might also be more impactful.

If you’re still unsure about how your skills will translate, there are also a few added benefits to a career in financial advising, including:

• Flexibility in your days
• The ability to earn a higher income

Before you can decide to expand your teaching to new level, reach out to our team of recruiters to discuss how financial advisors actually build a practice.

 

Exp. 7/2025 

2023-157983